Memories From Back Then
by Rina Aria
Summary: [AU] Milla Maxwell, the heir of Maxwell corporation, who had used to go to female-only dormitory school now was presented the chance to go to public school. Now that she was presented the chance, she wanted to have normal lifestyle. What kind of life she would lead after she met Jude Mathis, the smartest guy in the school? May contain cursing, weirdos, and school life drama.
1. Her First Meeting in the Spring

**Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't have Tales of Xillia, because it was properties of Bandai Namco.**

Hello everyone Rina Aria speaking here! It's been quite some times since the last time I put a new story for my already-long-but-not-that-long-yet story list! This fanfic is as the title itself suggest, an AU one so don't expect anything fancy like Link Artes okay? Although honestly I loved to write that part.

Let me brief you reader for a while why I'm being crazy and do 3 freaking multiple chapter story in the same time. Well, one of the reasons is because I'm crazy but that's not the point. This story was written for my love for something normal, not that I myself am normal but okay, I'm being sidetracked again. What I wanted to say is that I just wanted to write normal scene. '_Maxwell's Descendant_' is quite normal but it isn't that normal in normal sense.

Oh yeah before I was scolded I will tell some change I made. **First, Milla and Jude are from the same age. Second, their personality **_**might **_**just be quite different from the game since the setting and condition is alternated… slightly, scratch that, a _lot_. Third, this is a side project like "**_**Maxwell's Descendant**_**" don't expect for a lot of hectic update except I had a change of mind.**

**Now that it was done and over, I humbly present you '**_**Memories From Back Then**_**' hope you enjoy it!**

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**Milla POV**

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"I don't… look weird, do I?" I mumbled to no one in particular as I combed my absurdly long wavy hair. It's not that I hate my hair but sometimes I think it would be nice to have them short for a change.

My name is Milla, Milla Maxwell. Well, I'm the least social girl in all condition, so I only had a few friends, but at least I had good school marks in lesson and sports. I guess I could be called as an all-rounder.

I was used to attend all-girl schools and the only male company I knew of quite close was my dad and my older sister's fiancé. My family consists of four people, who are I, my Father, my older sister Muzét, and my twin sister Mira, who went overseas for musical school or something. About my mother… I don't really remember her clearly since she passed on when I was still 3 or 4.

Now, I attend a normal school called Rieze Maxia High, or something like that. My father, Alexander Maxwell (First name is made-up, don't take it by heart), recommended me this school so I could 'learn how to socialize' or so he said. Of course, I would never dare to disobey my own father despite his lack of father-like aura. I guess it couldn't be helped since he was the lead of the family corporation so it had to take quite a toll on his personality.

Today was my first day on high school so I was nervous about how it would go. For once, I wanted to have friends and, maybe… look for a boyfriend like how the other girls used to talk about in my previous school. Maybe, in the end, I just wanted to have normal daily life…

"Yeah, I think this will do," I said to myself as I twirled around to see my uniform. It wasn't much of a uniform actually, since the school had a free uniform rule albeit with some restriction. One of it was that we had to use the blazer from school when we needed to, like when we first enrolled.

I decided on a normal hem with a white colored shirt over it. I wore a normal brown tie which I left loose to not appear too traditional. I left my hair the way it was with some red clips holding my bangs from disturbing my vision. I also wore a brown-checkered skirt to make it look natural. Of course, since today was the first day of school and the spring in this town was quite cold, I wore my school blazer on top of my selected uniform.

I took my bag on the table and walked down the stairs to the first floor. I dashed to the dining room to grab some breakfast as I passed some of my father employees charged to attend on the house necessity on the way. It's been quite a long time since I went back home because I used to stay in my old school dormitory. Heck, I didn't even go back home on holiday.

"Good morning…" I greeted carefully as I entered the dining room that was empty. I sighed as I walked to the table and sit down. I guessed I was going to eat my breakfast alone again.

I didn't need to wait long for the maid to bring me my breakfast. As I ate the simple meal I looked over the empty seat that was supposed to be my Father's and I asked, "Where is he?"

"Lord Maxwell is busy on company business. From what he announced, he won't return home for two weeks, Lady Milla," she replied with courteous manner that placed some kind of distance between us. Not that I actually minded.

I will get used to see the seat to be empty, I guess. I sighed once more before saying, "Is that so? Well, if Father is away for work then I shall have breakfast and dinner inside my room. Thank you for the meal, can I have my lunch?" as I placed my fork and spoon on the plate. I stood up from my position as well before looking at the maid, who I remembered as Lia or something.

Lia bowed deeply as she handed me my lunch box before saying, "Yes, milady. I pray your first day on school will be a joyful day."

I nodded slightly as I took the lunch box and stepped out from the house. I could've had Father's private driver to drive me back and to school but I refused it outright. I knew that many people hated my father but as long as I was concerned, I always managed to get out from a lot of unpleasant situation regarding his company. And again, riding a car is too flashy for a high school girl who wanted to lay low about her identity.

I walked to the bus stop that became the first place I remembered about when I decided to go to school by public transportation. The surrounding of the bus stop was pleasant as well, so I took quite a liking of it.

I immediately sat down on the bench as I waited for the bus to get around the corner. I knew I had plenty of time before school started after I got down from the bus so I was in no hurry. I breathed in some fresh air as I thought of my new school.

Rieze Maxia High, this school had quite a good reputation in my town, and maybe my province, thus the reason why my Father applied me on it. Of course, I did the entrance exam and all that stuff as well, but seeing how I was raised to be an all-rounder put me on a favorable condition. I ranked 2nd in the entrance exam, not that I was surprised, so I hoped I wouldn't stand out too much because of it.

I remembered who the person who ranked just above me was. His name was Jude Mathis, someone from around here, who was born and raised in this town as well. I didn't know who he was, since I didn't live around this area. Though it would be a lie to say that I wasn't interested in him.

'_I wonder how he looks like. Could we become friends? It would be nice…_' I thought as I looked at the sky above me.

My train of thought was cut short when I heard footsteps coming. I heightened my senses in response of this. I was outside the safety of my house, and the bus wasn't here yet. If I was in school it might pose as a different condition, but I needed to be careful of my surrounding.

I took a sneak glance at the footsteps I heard and saw someone that quickly caught my eyes. First thing first, that person was someone around my age and, of course, not a kidnapper or anything. I saw he had my school badge as well so we were from the same school, which was a plus for me. He wore a blue sweater with white hem underneath his blazer. He had dark brown trousers and a blue tie assembled neatly around his collar, giving him a serious atmosphere.

What caught my eyes the most was his face. He had clean creamy skin with amber colored eyes underneath a black-colored full frame glasses. He also had neatly combed black hair, which resembled the night sky, somehow, in my eyes. He looked younger than he was supposed to be but the sharpness of his eyes underneath the glasses was one of an adult.

I felt my heart skip a beat as I unconsciously stared at him. He also had some kind of book that I identified as medical book, in his hands. I wondered if he aimed to become a doctor in the future…

But when I realized that I was still staring, I quickly looked away. I think my cheek became hotter by a few degrees seeing that person. He looked handsome and clever as well, just the type I liked. And again, he had glasses on so I just couldn't steer my mind away from him. My weird preference of glasses clad man always gained me weird looks before.

'_I wonder what's his name… should I ask him or not?_' I thought as I left my mind drift away from reality a little bit. He looked like a wonderful person but I guessed that if I immediately asked his name, then he would think of me as a freak.

As I was busy with my own head, I heard a voice gently calling me by saying, "Hey, you…"

I instantly opened my eyes and saw the bus in front of me. I was deadly surprised seeing that. I wonder just how long I was out of it. But more importantly that person who had occupied my mind since before looked at me with concerned eyes.

"You are from my school right? If you didn't board this bus you will be late you know?" he said with a pure concern in his tone that turned me speechless.

I only managed a nod since my heart was beating fast and loudly below my chest. Okay, this was just purely embarrassing. I must've looked so pathetic right now.

I stepped inside the bus and looked around for a seat. I found one easily because the bus wasn't too crowded. That person who made me looked pathetic sat a little bit behind. I wasn't mad at him because I was the one who went in a trance for too long. More than anything, I wanted to say thank you to him when we would see each other again since he saved me from the danger of being late in my first day.

I smiled at the thought. Somehow, thinking that we would see each other again made my heart warm. I didn't think that this was love yet, but I sincerely hoped that we could become a little bit closer from here on.

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Well, I guess for now this is enough… as you can see, Milla is acting like a normal teenage girl but not to appear like the Alternate Milla. This story is just a school drama so don't expect world shattering quest or anything okay?** And for the closing, please review and point my mistake** **in anything, I will try to fix it**~


	2. New Friends in Entrance Ceremony

**Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't have Tales of Xillia, because it was properties of Bandai Namco.**

Okay, here we are on the next update of this story! Yay for me and thank you for anyone who bothered to read my story about school drama~ I won't start a riddle about who is the person Milla saw because it was so obvious. Anyway, let's just get on the story and **again if you want to please review~ Oh you might start wondering whether this was the same chapter or not, well let me answer that for you. To be completely honest, after I updated using the Draft, my proofreader suddenly, as sudden as it sounded, sent me the checked version like… an hour after I did that. I flipped the table at first because of no reason.**

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**Milla POV**

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After ten minutes of trip, the bus finally stopped. I quickly gathered my stuff and walked quickly to the bus door so I won't appear pathetic again in front of him. When I got down he wasn't here yet but nonetheless I continued my walk to the school. I didn't want to appear as a crazy high school girl with a fetish on glasses and had developed a stalker-ish personality because of it.

I admitted that he was handsome and attentive but that's not enough to make me lower my pride. As the heir of Maxwell Corporation, I needed to hold my head high, or so Father taught me.

I made my way to the Auditorium and found that many people wear… interesting uniform (at least no one here was crazy enough to wear cosplay). I didn't want to note it just yet and instead looked for an empty seat in the middle row, so no one would take a notice of my presence. My eyes landed on a seat beside of a girl with hazel colored hair with emerald eyes. She wore a black beret with diamond pattern on the tip of it that well… looked interesting, if it was put on word.

I approached her and then I breathed deeply to gather my courage. First impression is important to make friend. It had been a while since I talked to other that I didn't know. After all, I had been in dormitory with close to zero new face to see since I was still 6 until 14. Then as softly as I could I asked, "Is this seat empty?"

She turned around to see me and I found that she actually looked cute and had a cheerful aura surrounding her. She looked like a good person. Her eyes widened a little and then slowly she smiled before saying, "It is. Go ahead."

After she said that I sat beside her and took glance to her. There is no obligation for us to wear our nametag but this girl had hers placed on her blazer. Who would after we had the freedom to choose our clothes? I wonder did she like to wear hers.

"Leia… Rolando…" I murmured slightly as I read her nametag. I felt like I had heard of her name from before but couldn't pinpoint why.

It seemed that she felt that she was called and then asked, "What is it?"

I quickly shook my head before saying, "Ah, no, I'm sorry if I was rude. I was just reading your nametag and wonder why you wear it… if I didn't remember it wrong we have no obligation to actually put it on so no one actually bothered to wear it…"

She looked surprised when she heard about the nametag regulation. Apparently she was surprised enough to instantly stand up and shouted quite loudly shouting a 'WHAT?!' as she looked at me with wide eyes. I felt the intense gaze from all around as I pulled her hands by saying, "L-Leia, calm down… everyone is watching!"

Leia quickly turned red and she as quickly sat down once more. I could see that she is embarrassed. Who wouldn't after everyone in the Auditorium looked at her in that weird manner? If it was me, I would feel like digging a hole deep inside the earth to hide my face.

Leia sighed and then said, "I'm sorry… but I didn't know that. I thought that since we were given a nametag we must wear it. I don't know that we may not wear it… Anyway, thank you for that help back then… err…"

I only smiled and then looked at Leia who seems to be reflecting on her brash nature. From what I see, Leia is cheerful and energetic and a good girl as well. Though her 'hit first, ask later' personality would bite her someday in the future. I placed a hand on my chest before saying, "I didn't help you on anything. Anyway it is Milla, Milla Maxwell I'm a member of 1-A class."

Leia looked up and give me a bright smile before saying, "Nice to meet you! My name is… well, I guess you know it already but well whatever, you can call me Leia, wait you already called me that as well. I'm also a member of class 1-A, then it makes us classmate right?"

I smiled hearing that. Okay, at least I'm not going to be alone in the class with Leia there. Before I could say anything more, the Entrance Ceremony started. I turned my attention to the baldy headmaster as I sometimes chatted with Leia beside me.

I turned my attention back to the front when I heard that it was the time for the best student in the entrance ceremony to give some kind of greeting. I think my jaw had dropped somewhere when I saw the 'Jude Mathis' who scored just above me in the entrance exam.

He is the man I saw in the bus stop who had reminded me about the bus. He is the man who invaded my head with his eyes and his glasses. He is Jude Mathis?! Crap he had seen my pathetic side already. How I would face him if I somehow met him through pure coincidence? No, no, no, this is reality, not a sappy cheap drama from television! There is no way that kind of thing would happen!

"Ahh, here he go and do," Leia commented with a knowing smile on her face.

I turned around to face her and as softly as I could manage I asked her, "Leia, you know him?"

Leia nodded cheerfully before saying, "I know him. In fact we are childhood friend so I kind of took care of him when we are still young. He moved before we entered junior high and only got back around the time for high school registration. I do know that he scored the first in this school entrance exam but I don't know that he actually take it…"

"S-so that's what it is…" I responded as I let out my breath that I didn't notice holding. Somehow it felt like something heavy was lifted from my chest. So he was like me, he used to not live in this town.

I could sense Leia peered to me with suspicious expression as she then asked, "Don't tell me, you fell for him?"

"W-what?!" I asked in surprised tone and looked away with my face felt hot. But, when I noticed that I risen my voice, I quickly clasped my mouth. I looked around to see whether other noticed my outburst and found that there was none, to my delight.

Then I turned to face Leia who grinned from ear to ear as I gave her a glare of my own. I wanted to deny it but I couldn't after I remembered the incident from this morning. His voice is beautiful, he is smart, diligent, and to top it off he wore glasses. How I managed to not fall for him after all that?

"I know it! I must warn you this firsthand Milla but the competition is tough you know… especially from Jude himself," Leia said with a teasing tone. I sensed trouble from how she worded it.

"What do you mean?" I asked instantly as I tilted my head. When I heard my own question I mentally scolded my own mind. Crap, if I said it like this, it was the same as admitting that I had fallen for Jude Mathis. Okay, maybe I _**did**_.

"Jude is pretty picky… no, maybe that's not the right term for it. He simply didn't see how girl flaunt over him since all he do is reading book and all that school stuff. Getting him to notice you is the first step to make him fall for you back. If I become Jude, there is no way I could reject a beautiful girl like you Milla, but we are talking about the real Jude here. I think he had the power to reject all girl, beautiful or not," Leia explained with a joking tone in between her explanation.

I laughed nervously hearing Leia's comment while half-listening on Jude's entrance speech. After he was done all people in Auditorium clapped as well as me. After it was done and the student scrambled out from the Auditorium, I caught up to Leia before saying, "Thank you… for the advice."

Leia laughed a little bit before saying, "If it's for my friend I will do all I can."

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Well, I hope it suit your preference. This chapter is short, I know because I didn't intend for it to be long. In the next chapter, we will approach the matter from Jude perspective. I don't really know how to write this version of him so I hope it won't dissatisfy everyone. Anyway, will you leave some **review?**


	3. His Eyes On Her

**Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't have Tales of Xillia, because it was properties of Bandai Namco.**

It's the third chapter of this normal story~ I had wrote an actually normal Milla for the last two chapter, with glasses fetish as well… though to be honest that was actually my fetish though the normal Jude also filled my fetish. Now forget about my fetish and let's get on with the story. Now it is Jude's side of the story. I used all cliché possible in this story because it was supposed to be cliché normal story so please forgive me if this was cliché.

**Note: Well, this one is the draft version since I had a lot of draft for this story... working on the chapter 16 actually right now, I decided to just give the draft until the proofreaded version was out. I was blind at detail so I would give it to you to know the difference. This story would be quite long and might rival the amount for Lost Treasure. This was in par with Maxwell Descendant in term of amount after all.**

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**Jude POV**

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I threw my glance around the Auditorium as I gave the Entrance Speech that I had prepared when I saw the entrance exam result. Around the middle row I saw Leia, my childhood friend, sitting with someone that I recognized but didn't know. She had interesting hair with some of the strands sticking out like a hook with green tip, and I didn't doubt that the color was natural. Her eyes are naturally magenta, a quite rare color for a natural one in my eyes. It would be hard to find someone resembling her, so I concluded that she was the girl from the bus stop this morning.

I didn't know why I noticed her presence at the time, but I just did. She was so eye-catching it would be hard to not notice her. She did look surprised when she saw me, but I believe that we were not acquaintance. And again, I never saw her with Leia before, so maybe they just became quick friend. She looked like she could handle Leia just fine.

As I gave my speech, her face turned into all short of expression. Her face was red in color for a little bit as she complained to Leia, so maybe Leia was teasing her. She looked happy however, as if she enjoyed her interaction with Leia. I wonder did she hit her head somewhere before?

After I finished my speech she looked at me with a tender gaze as she clapped. I tried to not stare as I went back to my seat on the opposite side of her seat. Maybe I should ask Leia about that girl later on. We were in different classes but it wasn't so wrong to visit a friend right?

"So, you are the one who scored the highest this year, huh?" a boy beside me said with a friendly tone. I was surprised that someone actually greeted me in that kind of style, kind of reminding me about Leia… by the amount of cheerfulness.

I looked to my side and saw a messily styled hazelnut haired boy with matching eye colors wearing a red jacket of some sort that had the school badge on its pocket. Noticing that I heard what he said, he grinned widely. He offered me his hands as he said, "Nice to meet you, I am Suzaku Jun. My first name is Jun by the way. I'm freshmen as well, class 1-D"

I took his hands and politely said, "I am Jude Mathis, it's a pleasure to meet you as well. And as you said I was the one this year. I am in 1-D as well, so it makes us classmates."

"Sweet now that I know we are in the same class! Anyway, did you check who the second in entrance exam is?" Jun asked with a big grin plastered on his face. He sounded ecstatic when he mentioned it.

"Milla Maxwell isn't it?" I replied nonchalantly. There was no way I didn't know about that since between that girl (Milla sounded like a girl name) and me there was only little gap. It had been awhile since the last time someone had almost the same score as mine so I couldn't help but memorize the name.

"Yeah, yeah, you really know your things, huh? They said she is beautiful. It's a nice match huh? Beautiful and smart…" Jun said as he grinned like an idiot at the thought.

"It's not my problem though…" I mumbled as I turned my attention back to the Entrance Ceremony. I really hoped it would end soon…

The day passed quietly though thanks to some distraction from Jun, I couldn't ask Leia about the flashy-girl with weird-colored eyes. I tried to look for her in the bus stop but somehow I couldn't find her. Did she stay at school a little bit longer this day, even when it was still the first day?

I opened my medical book that I already had memorized inside my head. My family is a family of doctor and my father owned one of the biggest hospitals in this town that had quite the fame in the nation as well. So it means me as the eldest son would inherit it, like it or not.

It wasn't as if I hate being a doctor. Actually, I wanted to be a doctor and had just finished my education to be one when I was supposed to do junior high. They said that I'm one of the youngest doctors out there, but I'm sure they were joking. Everyone could do the same thing as long as they put their mind into it and I did just that. Now I just needed my license to actually start working.

But my mother said that it wasn't the time yet for me to start working in the hospital (she is the head nurse there, actually) and wished for me to try on the high school for the meantime. My father said that I should try on feeling the society. He said that I was too aloof, unlike my adopted little sister, Elize L. Mathis, who was more open than I ever was.

So that was why I entered a high school in the first place, Rieze Maxia high. It wasn't a school completely for those who are rich enough, but more too unified one as long as one could pass the exceptionally hard (or so they said) entrance exam or getting recommended. It was a mere child play for me though I wouldn't deny that it was an interesting one.

For the sake of making me blended with the society around me, I used bus as the mean of transportation when I could ask the driver to drive me there. At first I thought it was a hassle, taking the bus I mean, but after I saw that fancy-girl, I think it wouldn't be that boring. Personally, I found her beautiful, like those model in the painting.

I sighed. I wonder since when I started thinking about a random girl I saw twice in my lifetime. There must be something wrong with me… yeah, maybe I studied a little bit too much and was light-headed. That must be the reason…

I leaned on the window as I glanced outside. There was no need for me to ask Leia about her… yeah, there is no need. Why I even thought about it? I really must have studied too much last night.

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_**(3 months later – First-term test announcement)**_

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"As expected, Mr. Genius from 1-D again huh?"

"He did all that club but still study?"

"I heard from my friend from his class that he read university material…"

"Was he actually from our age…?"

That kind of whispers entered my ears as I read my mid-term test result. Just as they said, I came out on the top like at the entrance exam and the mid-term. It wasn't something big but they seemed to care about it. I needed to report this to father though so I at least tried to work my best at it. He rarely gave me attention after all.

I was about to leave when I felt someone draped his hands over my shoulders. I looked to my side and saw a familiar red jacket, as the owner said, "Heh, you came out on top again huh, Jude?"

I smirked on his presence as I putted aside his arms before I said, "It wasn't anything big Jun, though you really need to study a little bit harder if you want that 'Thorn full Rose' to notice you."

Jun quickly turned red as I mentioned the title name of certain girl that Jun putted his affection. But that was underestimating it since he was fully head over heels at her. After the entrance ceremony, Jun had become someone I could call as friend despite his loud personality. He would one-sidedly tell a lot of story about himself and the rumor and one of it his pathetic love life.

His pathetic love live was about his hard crush on certain girl in the 1-A class, Ibara Mai, and would react in interesting manner when I mentioned even her title. Ibara-san is strict-laced the whole reason she was in disciplinary committee of Student Council and her title as the 'Thorn full Rose' **[1]**. From what I heard, if there is anyone caught doing something that crossed the rule of school, especially delinquent who raised their arms, they would soon been talked to be in hospital for at least a week… with a smiling Ibara Mai who brought them there. I should note that she patrolled alone.

"Mai-chan is cute, you know. Her half-frame metal glasses fit her azure eyes. She always wore Gerbera flower hairpin to complement her short hair. When she…" and Jun goes on full power at describing Ibara-san.

"What are you, a stalker?" I muttered out loud, but it seemed that Jun was too absorbed in his dramatic monologue of his beloved. I was surprised that the actual person never heard about how dramatic Jun was when he talked about her.

As I tried my best to ignore Jun weird action, I heard another cheerful voice greeted me with a "Jude, congrats again!"

I turned my head around and saw Leia approaching me. The fancy girl wasn't with her today. Did she have returned to class? Maybe she didn't score too high to look forward in it… what a waste since she was very beautiful.

"Ah, Leia-chan, where is your best friend?" Jun asked after he somehow managed to snap out from his annoying monologue. If I'm not wrong, Leia was an acquaintance of Ibara-san, so maybe he tried to make Leia work with her. But knowing Leia, she wouldn't work until Jun gave her something in return or when she found it funny.

"Oh, she went back after seeing her score saying that it wasn't that bad. It was an understatement of the year, look her name is just below Jude," Leia replied with one palms on her forehead, sighing considerably, while her other thumb pointed at a name directly below mine, Milla Maxwell.

"Talk about understatement of the year…" Jun also commented with a surprised tone. It sounded like he didn't know that the fancy-girl is Milla Maxwell either. Well, it was news for me too.

"You are friend with Milla Maxwell?" I asked with a raised brow on Leia. Well, Leia was a loud and originally stupid although athletic like Jun. Their scholarships at sports were the one that managed them to enter this school at the first place, so their intellectual ability was a little bit lacking.

To conclude it, I didn't think that Leia would be a friend with an intellectual being. She had a hard time reading Iroha Uta without fell asleep after all.

Leia looked at me with wide eyes and said, "You actually remembered her name?"

I looked at her with a big question mark over my head. Was it that weird for me to know her name? She was quite popular around guys and even Jun talked about her from time to time if he didn't talk about Ibara-san. So, instead of pondering, I decided to just ask Leia and said, "Was it weird of me?"

Leia quickly waved her hands in front of her chest and said, "Ah, no, no, no, there is nothing wrong. Yeah, it wasn't weird at all… you are a normal teenager after all…" she trailed down as she reached the end of her sentence as she nodded repeatedly to herself. I saw her mouthing something but decided to not pursue it. Woman is an extremely complex creature on the earth after all.

After a brief moment of mumbling to her own, Leia finally asked, "Hey Jude if you remembered her name, why you never asked me to introduce her to you?"

"Eh?" I was honestly surprised at Leia's question. The thought passed me time to time but I never tried to implore it further. She IS Leia's friend, not mine.

"I was actually more surprised that you just knew that Milla is my friend. She was in the same committee as you, the Library one. She was in Kendo club as well that shared dojo with your Judo club as well. How come you didn't know about her at all this past 3 months? Just where the hell are you?" Leia asked repeatedly as her face grown closer to mine.

"She was?" I turned to Jun who simply nodded.

"I didn't know that she is Milla Maxwell but yes, she is," Jun replied lightly as if it was something obvious. Although our club was different, he often forced me to go out with him after school, mostly to a sport store looking through basketball shoes, so he often visited me on my club to go home together despite our direction were completely different.

I could saw Leia facepalmed at my reaction. She mumbled something, "Just what had she done to… at this blockhead…" or something along that line.

I turned my attention back to the score list. I was reminded about her beautiful wavy golden hair and her sharp magenta eyes. Now that I thought about it, some guys in my club often asked me about her, but mostly I didn't listen on it. Maybe I was a little bit too ignorant…

"So, she is Milla Maxwell…" I mumbled as I reminded how we were often left alone at the bus stop. We never talked since I didn't feel that I was obliged to do it. But now that I knew she was Milla Maxwell… somehow I became interested.

It was a bright day in spring when I met her by chance. I learned about her name at the start of the dazzling summer break. As the summer break entered its end, we developed a bond, thanks to the fate plot. I guess fate really wanted me to take notice of her…

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**[1]**: Ibara Mai is written (威薔薇舞) literally meaning 'Dignified dancing Rose'. That's why her title is 'Thorn full Rose' since her name had Rose written in it and that she was super strict because of being disciplinary committee.

OC Introduction place:

1. **Suzaku Jun** : He was pretty much self-explanatory since he was as simple and as loud as how Jude describe him. I only used him for joke purpose since it sounded fun to have a friend like him who pretty much doing a monologue of his crush. He is born at 5 December and a Sagitarius. His bloodtype is B. He entered Rieze Maxia High through scholarship at basketball and he was proud almost _otaku _at it.


	4. Nice To Meet You, I am

**Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't have Tales of Xillia, because it was properties of Bandai Namco.**

Hello everyone! Rina Aria reporting here~ Wait, why I should report? It was weird to do a report in your own story... err, well whatever! Anyway, I will update this story like how I update Lost Treasure, meaning, when I reached some amount of view, I will update this story, already edited or not. But since the last chapter edited version isn't done yet, let's just believe that this story for now is the **Unedited version**. **Well, since the cat is out of the bag (was it the right idiom? idc) let's just get the show rolling! Rina Aria present you the Chapter 4 of _Memories From Back Then - "_Nice To Meet You, I Am..._"_**

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**Milla POV**

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After I saw the score announcement for the first term, I walked back to the class. My score wasn't that special after all, though Leia said that it was a complete understatement. Well, I was more interested on Mathis score rather than mine, which was just above mine as expected.

I had done my best to approach him this past 3 months, but apparently it was as hard as Leia had told me. Well, I had a quite matching schedule with him in all sort of activity. We both were in the Library Committee and had a mirroring extracurricular activity, because Kendo and Judo shared the same dojo. Albeit the actual reason I choose Kendo was because of my specialty on using sword, I just learnt that Mathis entered Judo later on.

Maybe the reason why he never realized my presence was because I never greeted him at the first place. I couldn't really help since my social ability wasn't as good as Leia. So I ended up looking at him from distance.

It wasn't that bad to be honest, since I managed to learn quite a lot about him. Mathis actually wore glasses not for its actual use, but more to create an image. He wore off the glasses when he did Judo and honestly, I found it as cool as when he wore his glasses. Talking about his Judo, I also noticed that albeit he toned it down, he was actually a professional on it. His move was beautiful and graceful at the same time, a kind of move that only could be done by someone who had finished his study on certain martial arts after doing it for so long. Did he have done it before?

In the Library Committee, he was devoted on the job and he often helped the Librarian on his spare time. He looked happy when he was surrounded by the book that he didn't notice me staring as I read near him. He was exceptionally delighted when he saw a medical book.

He was also often together with a guy from his class who wore a red jacket. Mai, Ibara Mai, told me that he is Suzaku Jun, someone who Mathis called as friend. They were often together as Mathis accompanied Suzaku to a sport shoe stores, looking for basketball shoe. That information was those I got from Mai since she had a thing or two for the basketball star.

There was no actual rush for me to get to know him. It was only three months after I first met him by coincidence although it was one-sided since he didn't realize me. There is this fact that we were on different classes. I was as good as stranger for him.

I let out a deep breath I didn't realize were holding in the middle of the afternoon class. The teacher's lecture went pass my head. When I turned to my side, Leia was already sleeping while Mai who got the front row were writing her 'Suzaku Jun report' that she hide under her lesson book. She was a stalker in and out despite her simple appearance and apparently 'healthy' attraction.

I looked to my side, the weather outside was so clear and it was bright. It really was the weather for summer. The cloud that were scattered in the sky looked so free and white. The color of the sky was so blue as well like the sea. Talking about sea, Leia made me and Mai agreed on a day in our summer break to visit the sea. I doubt Leia knew about my family business but it sounded like she knew that I wouldn't get out from my house this summer break. After all, I was used to help on the office work in summer albeit when I was still in dorm, I did it there.

But in Mai's case she would be too busy on attending Summer Class so she could monitor that Suzaku Jun who must enter supplementary lesson. Though talking about supplementary class, Leia had few as well. But since we were talking about Leia, she might just sleep through it instead of actually learning anything. She got into this school using recommendation for a _good _reason after all.

'_I wouldn't see him again until the second term, huh…_' I thought as I was thinking about the summer break. But I guess it wouldn't make any significance.

I pressed my cheek on the desk as the lecture faded into the background. I closed my eyelids as the wind blow from my side. It was my first summer break as a high school student. I wonder what would happen to me this summer… The sun was so bright when my consciousness faded into black.

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**Normal POV**

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The once bright sky had turned dark as dark-colored clouds covering it. The wind acted more fiercely in response to the darkening sky. Milla was just awakened after all of her classmate left the class. She briefly remembered nodding her head to her best friend, Mai and Leia, when they told her about going to sea. But the rest of what happened after wasn't registered inside her head.

"Oh, crap!" Milla shouted as she saw how the sky had turned black during her nap and quickly snatched her bag and then ran to the outside, hoping she would still make it to the bus stop before it would rain.

But when Milla was just walking down from the stairs to the 1st floor, it had started to rain. She looked outside the window and saw how it looked like it would take time to stop. She let out a deep breath and decided to just wait for it to stop since she didn't bring an umbrella today.

Milla was half-dragging her feet to the shoe locker and changed her indoor shoes with her outdoor one. She didn't want to miss on the bus just because of stupid downpour started again after the last ended, so she decided to just wait it out.

She stood still in one of the pillar and leaned slightly, thinking how bad her luck played on this day. Her love life was getting nowhere, she slept on the class, and now trapped in the school alone because of stupid water that fall from the sky.

"What a way to start summer break…" Milla muttered as she looked at the gray-colored sky looming over her.

Her surrounding was covered in silence except for constant sound from rain falling. It was a nice melody, and while Milla didn't hold anything against rain, but this time, she was in no mood to have rain. To save herself from boredom Milla decided to close her eyes and listened to the sound of her heartbeat and the rain she made a mental note to bring her MP3 player after summer break.

As her heart started to feel serene by the situation, Milla's ears caught the sound of someone approaching. It was echoing inside her ears that Milla deducted as the sound of shoes meeting floor. Milla shot her eyes open knowing there was someone other than her that was still in the school.

'_Whoever it is, the sound was quite close…_' Milla thought inwardly as she threw a glance to her back, noticing that the shoe locker was still devoid of life. She quickly turned her attention back to the rain because she didn't want whatever or whoever it is noticed that she knew of its/his/her presence.

Milla started to feel worried when no one appeared after some times and the sound disappeared as well. She gulped inwardly before looking behind her once more. When she knew what –or rather- who had created the stepping sound, she was conflicted either on relieved or surprised.

There was only one reason to that. It was because Jude Mathis was the one who made all that noise. And by some fate bad joke (and _the writer _glasses fetish), he was the one who Milla had eyes on.

Jude himself who was shutting himself inside the library all alone didn't notice that it had started raining when he stepped out. He wasn't bothered with the fact it rained at all despite not bringing umbrella. Well, at least until he noticed that certain person was waiting for the rain to stop as well.

'_Milla Maxwell…_' Jude noted inside his mind as he changed his indoor shoes with the outdoor one. He didn't expect that girl to remain on school this long either. He did know that they sometimes waited for the bus at the same time but he remembered that today there is neither club nor committee meeting so she had no valid reason on staying at school.

He remained uninterested however as he decided to wait for the rain to stop beside her. He took some distance so not to appear suspicious as he looked at the dark sky, half-wondering when the rain would stop. He wanted to get on doing his summer homework ASAP so he could do another thing instead. For example, he could help Jun on his homework.

The air between the two was still as if the time didn't move at all. The only sounds enveloping them were the sound of rain and some lightning from afar. Milla didn't have any problem with lightning so she remained quiet. Jude didn't bother to ask whether Milla was scared of lightning or not and remained quiet as well.

It was something normal for them. When they were left alone in the bus stop, none would speak a word to each other. They realized each other, but there was something preventing them to talk to each other. But both knew that the silence right now felt different. Once in the span of the three months that had passed, the silence was actually awkward.

Milla was fidgeting as she stared into the rain, wondering when it would stop. She clenched her fist and then let it go before clenching it again. She certainly felt the awkwardness that was in the air.

'_I wonder why…_' Milla thought as she stole a glance to Jude who simply stared into random space. She let out a sigh once more as she thought how it got her nowhere.

Jude took notice at the troubled look Milla put on. He was bothered up enough about her, despite not knowing her personally. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. It was actually the first time he talked to another girl personally beside Leia. He didn't know what pushed him to do it, but he did it before he even realized it.

"Why are you sighing?" Jude asked as he tried hard to sound natural.

Milla looked up and turned her head to the source of sounds. She was actually surprised that Jude actually said something that she instantly said, "Eh?"

"Do you hate rain?" Jude asked again, ignoring Milla's first response.

"No… I don't particularly hate them…" Milla replied nervously, didn't know what kind of answer she should give. It was true that she didn't particularly hate rain though.

"Thunder?"

"I'm fine with it."

"Storm?"

"Would there be one?"

"Ghost?"

"They are work of fiction."

The conversation died down at that point. Jude was utterly embarrassed at how he kept his conversation with useless talk. Milla found that it was surprising to talk with Jude. She was pretty convinced that Jude didn't notice her after all.

"Say, do you know who I am?" Milla asked out of curiosity. She had been keeping a close look to Jude since long, but she didn't know how about him.

"I know who you are. You are in Kendo club and we were in the same Library Committee… you are Leia's friend as well and…," Jude replied truthfully as he faced Milla who was gazing at him with friendly-yet-amazed eyes.

"And?" Milla prompted without further ado as she heard Jude stopping on the middle of his sentence. It was the first time they actually talked after all.

"… and we waited on the same bus stop every day," Jude finished his face with slightly nervous tone. He couldn't admit that he sometimes secretly took glance to the girl. Although it was a fact that Jude only learned about Milla's name this afternoon.

"I-is that so?" Milla replied nervously, not expecting this kind of answer. She thought herself as a sharp girl but she didn't notice it at all.

'_Maybe I was too absorbed in my own thought to notice…_' Milla thought as she placed her index finger over her cheeks.

Once again the conversation died down and silence hung on the air. But this time, the silence was actually nice. Especially when they both noticed that the raining started to stop pouring. Both took a step out at almost the same time as they looked up and saw how the sky had cleared up.

"Well, if you would excuse me…" Jude said with a soft tone. He was actually glad that Milla acted normal around him and it eased his worry a little bit. If all girls were like Leia, he would get a constant headache.

Milla looked at Jude's back and contemplated on what she should do. It was the first time they actually conversed so Milla didn't want it to end just like this and then turned into stranger again. She took a deep breath and mustered up her courage when she then half-shouted, "Err you are walking to bus stop as well, right?"

Jude stopped in his track and turned around, his face turned pink a little bit but Milla didn't notice. He looked like he was listening to Milla so Milla continued, "Well, could we walk together there? You know… we go to the same direction after all…"

Jude was taken off-guard since he wasn't good around girl except his family and Leia who were already close enough as family. But again, Milla was a friend of Leia, there was no difference between it. He at least knew that he shouldn't lose composure. At this time… he wondered what Jun would reply… he was better at this kind of thing…

But Jun dramatic monologue appeared inside his mind that he quickly brushed it off. It was too scary to even imagine it that he shook his head.

Milla saw this gesture as disapproval and asked, "You don't want to?"

Jude was surprised once more and he looked from one side to another, completely flustered. He then quickly said, "N-no, I mean… it's not like I tried to reject it was just that I remembered about horrible memory so I instantly shook it off. What I meant to say is actually it is okay… really."

Milla tried to hold her laughter inside seeing how Jude wasn't good at this kind of thing as well. She quickly approached him and they started to walk together to the bus stop without saying anything. Both weren't bothered with this silence in the slightest bit since both sucked at conversation.

When they reached the bus stop, Milla checked the bus schedule and found that it would arrive soon. She turned to Jude and naturally said, "It seems that there is no need to wait for long…"

"It looked like that to me…" Jude said with a nonchalant expression. He was actually nervous since he wasn't used to Milla acting casually around him.

They both turned silent once more until Jude cleared his throat. Milla was surprised and turned around when Jude said, "Well, let me set it straight. I knew your name."

Milla nodded and then replied, "Well, I know yours as well, you gave speech at Entrance Ceremony after all." She was forgotten about how Leia had mentioned her that Jude was bad with names of those strangers to him.

"But… we never introduced ourselves to each other…" Jude trailed down as he tried to avoid Milla's magenta eyes.

"Now that mention it, yes we never did," Milla responded naturally with a nod to herself. Actually, it was something she was afraid to do but somehow now that the subject was touched, she didn't fear it as she thought.

Jude looked away, wondering how he should do this introduction stuff. He took another deep breath before offering his hands to Milla and said, "How about we do it now?"

Milla looked at Jude's face and then to his hands and then back to his face once more before lowering it again. She didn't see it coming at all. But she welcomed the gesture. It would be a step forward for her to know about Jude a little bit closer.

Milla took Jude's hand and both shook it lightly. Jude smiled in friendly gesture as he said, "Nice to meet you, I am Jude Mathis. You can call me Jude."

Milla returned the smile and then said, "Nice to meet you, Jude. I am Milla Maxwell. Feel free to call me Milla."

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**To Be Continued in ~Summer Break mini Arc~**

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Hello everyone who was reading this Author note~ Rina Aria speaking here~ Well it's quite hard to think of situation where Milla and Jude would finally know each other directly. So with Deus Ex Rina (lol) I made them meet each other. I did my research about weather in Japan (what, Namco is in Japan so why not make the story happen there?) during Summer. Yeah, maybe it was just the beginning of Summer Break a little bit early for rain, but who cares? (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

So, since I finally changed the season let's continue on what I had started last chapter. Yeah, this is OC Introduction time! Now we had **Ibara Mai **in the show. I didn't spoil too much of the girl yet because she had another role later.

Rina : Hey, Mai hurry up and wave to the monitor!

Mai : W-what? Why I should do that?

Rina: Just do it! Or should I use the power of keyboard to force you?

Mai: O-okay... *wave*

OC introduction place:

1. **Ibara Mai**: She is a sweet and polite _**looking **_girl who had a lot of hidden weird quirk under her desk. She was obviously stalking Suzaku Jun in a lot of his action minus his house. We all shall wonder how come those two fool managed to miss each other, but that wasn't the point. It was the truth that Mai is a soft spoken girl though but if _only _you are in her good side. Otherwise she was merciless especially if her enemies retorts to violence.

She had short dark brown hair that only reached above her shoulders. She is the only glasses girl so far in this series. Her glasses are oval with black hanging frame. Her spring attire consists of pale pink long sleeved turtle neck and grey overalls that reached her knees. The rest of her seasonal attire at school is mostly the same with different sleeves length and at winter she would wore the school blazer. No one knew how she managed to move freely in fight with constricting clothes.

Mai blood type is AB. She is born at 20 November so she is a Scorpio. She entered Flower-arranging club and she joined Disciplinary Committee earning her the title of "Thorn full Rose". Her favorite flower is well, Rose. And to make things worse, her favorite color is red.


	5. To The Beach Part 1 - Study Session

**Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't have Tales of Xillia, because it was properties of Bandai Namco.**

Hello my dear reader out there! Rina Aria speaking here~ I was glad that you found this story to be enjoyable as much as I enjoy writing this as well. So let's start the Summer Break! Summer Break is rather shor arc since I didn't have any idea what one would do at it. There is none in my place after all so... well, I'm doing my best anyway! Oh and anyone here love study group scene? Because now we need to study... yeah, I'm half whining right now.

**Anyway, now that it was done with, let's start this chapter! Entitled~ "**_Summer Break – Study Session and To the Beach part 1_**"**

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**Milla POV**

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"Hey, Milla how about this? I think it would suit you!" Leia said as she pressed an orange colored bikini with small flower printed on it.

"Leia, I think it wouldn't fit Milla too well… I personally prefer this one," Mai said as she pressed me a black one-piece swimsuit with crisscrossed neck part that was a little bit _too _provocative for me. It emphasized on the size of my chest after all.

"Y-you two…" I tried to voice out my opinion but both Mai and Leia who had started bickering on whose taste is better didn't hear me. I doubted that even if they heard, they would care about my opinion.

I sighed as I wondered how come it had come to this… It actually made sense when I remembered about what had happened a week ago. Because of that, they found out about another thing that became the start of this swimsuit madness. And I felt a pang of regret when I agreed.

"_I shouldn't have agreed…_"

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(A week ago…)

I promised Leia that I would visit her house to help her to do her homework as I finished the latter half of mine. Leia also invited Mai to do hers as well but knowing Mai, I knew she had done most of it. And I knew that the reason why Leia invited us was to ask us to let her copy our work.

But nonetheless, my sister Muzét who dropped by was delighted by the fact I managed to create some friend. My sister, Muzét was actually the first in line to inherit the corporation after my Father stepped down, but because she became Gaius-niisama fiancé and she was just plain lazy, she handed the heir position to me, the second child. It wasn't that I had problem with it though.

She went overboard with what I should bring to Leia's house and she had (magically) had strawberry shortcake for me to bring. I tried to refuse since I wholeheartedly knew that if I gave Leia cake, she would stop doing her homework. But since I was weak to my older sister puppy eyes, which she pulled at full knowledge of this, I brought it along.

Leia wrote me a narrative of a map to her house. Much to my surprise it wasn't that far from the bus stop I used daily. But again, Jude used the same bus stop and the two of them were neighbor so it should have come without saying.

When I was reminded about Jude, I remembered our encounter at the start of summer break when we waited for the rain to stop. He first struck me as a cool and aloof one, but now that I had spoken with him, I realized that he was just as bad as conversation as me. And that he was actually gentle and considerate on other people. He also seemed to be a natural worrier. He was still cool in my eyes though.

It was then I realized that we were quite similar, since people sometimes mistook me as something that I unconsciously show them. Now that I knew him a little bit closer, my heart started to beat louder when the thought of him passed my mind.

But I was fixed on not rushing it. I still needed to know more about Jude and we should start as friend first. Jude looked like he wasn't familiar with girl as I wasn't so familiar with guy so I needed to start it slow.

I looked back at the map Leia had given me as I inspected the house in front of me right now. She said her house was a two-store with yellow paint and small garden in front of it. It matched the description perfectly and I made sure that I wasn't in the wrong house as I read the nameplate.

"Rolando… so this is it, huh…" I read the nameplate with a low voice as I looked back and forth the map and the nameplate.

After I was perfectly sure, I smiled to myself as I looked the house near it. Leia and Jude was neighbor so I slightly wondered which one was his house. It would be nice to know it for future preference.

'_Maybe I should ask Leia to show me which one is Jude's house later…_' I thought before taking a step closer to the front door.

I dusted my skirt a little bit before I pressed the bell. I waited for a while for response but no one responded. I wondered was no one at home and decided to press the bell once more. This time I had more luck with it since I heard a male response from inside saying, "Coming…"

I wondered who was the one who replied since, if I remembered it right, Leia had no brother. I did think that it was her father but, the tone was too young for a middle-aged man. I decided to push it to the back of my head as I waited for the door to be opened. If by some chance I was in the wrong house, I could apologize later.

The sound of incoming step was actually familiar in my ears though I couldn't pinpoint whose. The doorknob in front of me turned counter-clockwise before I managed to remember something. When the door opened completely, who was answering the door had made my jaws dropped.

In front of me was a guy, not older than I, with raven-colored hair was and slightly messed up hair. He wore frameless glasses with black handle that I found to be classy. But that wasn't the problem.

"Milla?" he said in questioning manner.

"Am I by some chance got the wrong house, Jude? I was supposed to go to Leia's house…" I explained briefly as I tried to keep my heartbeat in check because his appearance had made it went to the rooftop.

Yeah, the one who answered the door was Jude. The first thing I managed to notice was his hair and his glasses but now that I looked closely, he wore plain white shirt and dark brown short, an usual summer wear though I should say it was too casual. But again Leia had told me that her parents and Jude were close so they were often treated each other family member like their own family, maybe it applied on their house rule.

"N-no, this is really Leia's house. My house was one turn apart from here. Anyway Milla, you look… nice," Jude said with a surprised tone at first but changed quickly into a gentle one reaching the end where he complimented my clothing.

Today I wore blue tank top with white half-transparent shirt over it that had its selves dangled loosely on my shoulder. I wore blue-checkered mini skirt and I had cream-colored bag that I hung on my right shoulders. I wore with strapped flip-flops to match it. But it wasn't that important right now, Jude had complimented me and it had made my face red to embarrassment, but I need to answer his compliment (and reply as well).

"T-thanks…" I replied softly as I mentally hoped for Leia to save me from this predicament.

We both turned quiet for a moment until Jude finally said, "E-err… today, Leia's parents were away for some shopping. Was it the first time you go to Leia's by any chance? Leia seems to imply that when she forced me to answer the door."

I laughed nervously as I raged at Leia inside my heart. So this is a set-up! I should have not brought the cake with me even if my life depended on it.

Jude seemed as if he didn't notice my internal rage as he then said, "I see that I was right. Well, it's not particularly my house but… please go in."

I snapped from my internal rage and cursing as I diligently followed Jude inside as I said, "Sorry for the disturbance…"

The interior was actually clean and felt homey with light yellow colored paint. Jude led me through the hall and then said, "Well, Leia's room is above the stair at the end of hallway, you'll find it without much trouble. Knowing Leia, she couldn't cook even if her life depended on it so I would make your drink. How Lemon tea sounded to you?"

I smiled nervously hearing that since I was no different. Even if my life depended on it, I'm sure that I couldn't cook. I would love to try it one day… but, one day. I kept it inside however as I said, "It sounds great! And my sister forced me to bring cake with me… do you know where I could slice it?"

Jude was surprised when he saw that I did bring a package of cake with me. Maybe he didn't notice it when he opened the door. He then motioned me to follow him and I did. He showed me the kitchen and asked me to place the cake on the table as he took some plates and knife as if the kitchen was the back of his hand.

It piqued my interest so I asked, "You sure are familiar with this place, huh…"

Jude looked at me with a gentle smile as he said, "Aunt Sonia used to teach me martial arts with Leia when we are still around 5 and since Leia couldn't cook, I was the one who would help." When he said that he had a nostalgic look on his face as if remembering the time of past.

He looked so serene that I couldn't help but smile especially after hearing that he learned martial arts from such young age. That would explain a lot of thing involving his moves at his club. So Jude was indeed experienced at it.

"So that's why your move was beautiful…" I said as I smiled at the reminder of his move in Judo. His move was beautiful in my eyes.

Jude looked surprised that he unconsciously dropped the knife and the plates. Since he was a few feet away, by pure instinct I took some steps to his side and naturally saved the plates and knife without breaking a sweat. One of my lessons was reflex, and I excelled at that.

I was caught in surprise as well when I felt a hand touching mine and took the plate from it. I looked up instantly and then Jude said, "Your move in Kendo was beautiful as well… and thanks for the save…"

I couldn't stop the heat from rising as I picked up his scent, the scent of strawberry mint. It was naturally girly scent, but when Jude had it… I thought it fitted him perfectly in a good way. It made me conscious of how we were so close as well.

Another air of silence enveloped us and it felt awfully awkward. My heart didn't try to slow down at all as I was overly conscious at how Jude moved near the table behind me to slice the cake. He said that my Kendo move was beautiful as well… I didn't know how to respond on that.

"Milla…" Jude said with soft tone.

I turned around shyly as I tried to hide my flustered face somehow. I forced my eyes to go down from his glasses and to his hands that hold a tray of sliced up cake. It looked perfectly identical but before I could say anything he said, "Well, could you bring it to her room? Soon Leia would complain about how hard the homework is."

Just after Jude said it, a loud shout was heard from upstairs. It was something along the line of accursed homework and it had Leia's voice so I guessed that would be Leia. I stifled my laughter as I said, "Yeah… I see…"

I proceed to take the tray of already-cut cake to Leia's room as I wondered why Jude cut the cake into 5 slices, but again it wasn't my problem. As Jude had said it before, Leia's room was easy to find, practically because it was the only room with opened door. I looked inside and found Leia already spent with Mai who tried to cheer her up and Suzaku Jun who was for some reason in here.

"So… how far Leia had made it?" I asked when I entered the room. I didn't need to look for the answer since the scattered empty homework book explained it all. Seriously, the Summer Break would end in two weeks and she hadn't finished her homework.

"Ah, Milla… about that, well as you can see…" Mai said with a surprised tone before she trailed down on her sentence. It was obvious that Leia didn't do well on it and she knew I had noticed the empty homework books scattered on the table.

"So that 'guest' Leia forced Jude to answer to is you…" Suzaku Jun said with a low tone as he tried to change the subject for some of Leia's remaining pride. It did answer my internal guess about how Leia set me up on this.

"I can't go on anymore…" Leia complained as she had comical tears on her cheeks. It was obvious she didn't bother with Jun's attempt on telling me that she had set me up.

I simply laughed it off and set the cake on the table. Leia quickly looked up with stars in her eyes. When she tried to snatch a slice I dodged it by pulling the tray to my direction and caused Leia's face to meet with the book on the table. Pay back.

"Milla…" Leia begged with her puppy eyes.

I closed my eyes so I couldn't see her pleading face when I said, "Finish at least half of your math book, and I might reconsider."

Then I looked at Suzaku Jun, the boy Mai had crush on who was patting Leia as if she was a lost puppy, as I said, "Ah anyway, I never properly introduce myself to you. Nice to meet you, I am Milla Maxwell feel free to call me Milla."

He then turned to me and bowed slightly before he said, "Oh yeah, we never did. It's a pleasure to meet you Milla, I am Suzaku Jun, just call me Jun."

I glanced to Mai who dodged my gaze almost instantly. So I guessed she had made contact with Jun before this time. I knew Mai was obviously flustered as well when she knew that Jun was here, maybe one of Leia's attempts on matchmaking.

Then I looked down at Jun's book and saw his blank homework book as I smiled slightly. It seemed that we have another Leia in the room. Then I gave Mai her cake and kept Jun and Leia's share with me as I said, "Whoever it is who didn't do at least half of their homework got no cake…"

"W-what?!" Jun shouted in horror. It looked like he anticipated the cake as well. I couldn't deny that it looked delicious though. His reaction was normal.

"Milla, you evil demon lady!" Leia complained as she threw her book to the air and collapsed on her back. She should be glad that they set the table on a soft rug and that she had placed some pillows around as well.

I simply chuckled as Mai simply asked for their forgiveness as she ate her share of cake. Jude took that time to enter the room as well with a tray of cool lemon tea as he said, "That's a good one Milla."

I looked behind since my seat made me had my back facing the door. Jude also chuckled, darkly if I might add. Both Leia and Jun protested as Jude gave me my tea and gave the other refill of their tea. I muttered a 'thank you' as he took seat beside me, in between Jun and me. **[1]**

We then started to work on our respective homework, though most of the time either Mai or I would lecture Leia for slacking off while Jude hit Jun when he tried to change the subject from homework. Well, when Leia and Jun actually worked on their homework, Jude and I compared our work with each other. It was nice actually.

"Jude, do you know how to work on this problem? I felt like my equation is wrong…" I said as I gave my math book to Jude while pointing at the question I mentioned.

"Oh, that one. It took me some times to solve it as well. The equation wasn't particularly wrong though… here, let me show you…" Jude replied before he took my book and my pencil and then started writing the solution beside my work. I should admit that his writing was beautiful and neat unlike Leia.

I tried to keep myself focused on the problem instead of Jude himself since he was so close that our shoulders were touching each other. Not to mention that he was explaining the solution with that soft voice of his, right beside my ears. I only hoped that he didn't notice how loud my heart was beating right now.

Through hard work I managed to keep straight face and understood the method that he explained. I took my pencil back and then tried to work on the question using Jude's method as I said, "So, it goes like this… and then like this… oh, I got it now!"

"Wow that was fast…" Jude said with mildly surprised tone.

I simply smiled as I took the compliment politely. Jude then showed me his essay as he said, "I see from the announcement that you are better at English than me, so could you check it out?"

I looked at the book and then to Jude. I took his book as I said, "Of course with pleasure. And really Jude, my English wasn't that great. Forte-sensei tends to exaggerate my writing, that's all."

As I worked on correcting the small mistake Jude had made on his essay, I felt eyes all around me. I looked up and my eyes met with Leia who then said, "Since when you two are so close?"

I stopped writing and looked at Leia in surprised manner. I was too stunned to say anything as Jun then said, "Yeah, this past 3 months you never said a word to each other and now you are all friendly and checked each other summer homework."

I simply remained silent as I tried to look for reason. I just found it nice to be around Jude, so I had no reservation around him. Even if I didn't fell for him, I believe I would remain this way around him. But now that they said it, it was only the second time we met each other.

"If that's all you want to say go back to your work Jun… really, there is nothing wrong with us. I simply feel like it since Milla is around. She is smart and we are friend after all," Jude said with calm tone as he pushed his glasses up slightly.

I seriously lost all my words after I heard it. Mai giggled and she looked at Leia who had a devilish expression on her face as well. I felt some bad vibe between these two. They would make me do something embarrassing. I knew it perfectly.

"Say Jude, would you like to go to beach next week?" Leia said with a radiant smile though I knew that she was up to something.

Jude looked up and then simply asked, "Beach?"

"Yeah, beach. Leia would have done her summer homework by that time and we had planned to go as well but didn't decide the date yet. Let's we all go together!" Mai said encouraging Jude to just accept the proposal.

Jude looked like he contemplated on it for the moment. He then looked at me and asked, "You didn't have any family vacation or something?"

I was surprised at his question that was directed to me. I simply looked at Mai and Leia and begged them to save me but it seemed unlikely for them to do that. I gave up and then said, "My family never planned one. Most of the time I'm just killing time and work part-time. And I knew whether I agree or not, Leia would find a way to make me come."

Jude nodded for a little bit and then looked at Jun before he said, "If Jun is coming then I'll go."

Leia looked at Jun and then Mai who was flustered as she mischievously said, "Sure Jun, you can go with us. Then it's decided, next week we all will go to the beach in next town."

After Leia announced that Jun may come (maybe to hook him up with Mai) and thus made Jude goes along too, Jun pumped his fist up on the air and shouted, "Yes! Jude you are really my brother!"

Jude simply sighed but a smile was evident on his face. That smile made me smile as well since he looked very relaxed, unlike his usual expression. I personally believe that he looked better this way. I liked his school appearance as well though.

Mai, who was just recovered from the shock of having Jun aboard on our vacation, stutteringly said, "S-say… w-when we should all g-go? H-how's Sunday sound for everyone?"

"I'm free on Sunday," Jude said calmly as he turned his attention to another bespectacled girl here. Mai's serious appearance and cute personality was actually a good match. But, I didn't want to see the Mai who worked as disciplinary committee and caught some delinquent messing in the school. Even with that cute and polite demeanor, Mai was a master at martial arts, especially Taijutsu despite being a girl.

"Yeah, me as well," I replied as I briefly thought on my day's off from my family company work. Next Friday was my last day of work and from that day onwards I'm free from burden.

"Count me in as well! No practice day for me that time!" Jun added with high-spirited tone. He would make a good match for Leia's loudness.

"So that's decided. We met at the bus stop not far from this place at 10 o'clock. Pay up for yourself okay?" Leia said with a cheerful tone as she stood up and circled the date with yellow marker in a star shape.

We then started our mission to finish our homework once more. Well, it was more like Mai, Jude, and I doing our last homework check-up with Leia and Jun trying to coax us on letting them copy our finished homework. At first we all fixed on not, but seeing how Leia and Jun was so hopeless we finally gave in and let them do just that.

After we were finished albeit Leia and Jun were only half-way done, most of us said our goodbye to Leia and Jude. I walked with Mai and Jun who needed to take a bus to go back to their respective home.

But honestly, it was more as if I became their third wheel or something when we were walking. After all Jun and Mai looked like they had fun talking to each other that they didn't realize that they had reached the bus stop or even noticed that I was with them. I separated from them from that point on and walked back to my house.

It was finally that the reality struck me hard and my face turned red from embarrassment. For the whole day, I was sitting right beside Jude as we studied together. He also complimented me in a lot of aspect. It really was a nice day…

'_I'm looking forward to the next week…_' or so I thought.

* * *

(Back to present)

At that time I didn't knew that the preparation would be a complete hell for me. This morning Leia called me to do some shopping for swimsuit at the mall. She said that hers was completely no good and she had asked Mai to come as well. And Leia didn't take a 'no' for an answer.

We then met at the bus stop and we rode the bus to the mall. It started as something healthy with some café outing and we jumped from one boutique to other, Leia dubbed it as looking for guy magnet summer clothes. And by some bad luck, they knew that my bust were slightly bigger than the average teenager. After that, things went downhill from there…

Because when they knew it made them felt obligated to look for an appropriate swimsuit that would show it. They were actually too focused on it that they didn't realize that I had turned around and looked at the rack of more appropriate swimsuit for myself. I really hoped it would turn out well.

I sighed inwardly as I took a bikini that somehow made its way to my hands. It was plain white in color. It was held by white ribbon on the back and at the center of my chest, maybe just between it. The bottom was pretty much the same but it actually came with extra scarf-like thing with red base-color on the upper half and becoming yellow to its tip and it also had black circle pattern spread from the lighter base until the upper part of it. All in all I took a liking to it.

"Leia, Mai, would you like to stop for a bit?" I asked them as I took the swimsuit on my hands.

I turned around but Leia and Mai showed no sign of stopping. I sighed a little before I decided to just go to cashier and pay up for it. Now that I was done, I really should force them apart and look for their own swimsuit or else we would be here all day.

'_I hope the beach would become a better memory than shopping…_'

* * *

Anyone out here ever feel the horror of shopping? I personally didn't hate shopping but if we are faced with countless choice, it would be quite a headache. Especially with Milla who I took to be 'Magnificiently beautiful' as I saw from her wardrobe in the game DLC, taking aside the cross-dressing one. And since Jude and Milla were aware of each other right now, I started spreading some sugar and honey around.


	6. To The Beach Part 2 - Shopping

**Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't have Tales of Xillia, because it was properties of Bandai Namco.**

Hello again with Rina Aria present in the author note part! It really is hot isn't it? My place was always hot all around the year as we have a lot of sun around the year. I wonder did it started getting a little bit warmer in other country with 4 season... Well, then let's begin our story! **We are unto chapter 6 entitled** "_Summer Break – To the Beach part 2_"**! For a tidbit, I'm currently in latter half of chapter 19 and would move to chapter 20 soon~**

* * *

**Jude POV**

* * *

I simply stared at Jun who had dragged me to some kind of clothes shop because the beach trip with the girls is tomorrow. At first I was reluctant, since I had no actual reason to go to the said shop, but Jun treated me some fruit parfait so I decided to keep him company. And because of that, I didn't complaint as much as usual when Jun did most of his internal dramatic monologue as he looked at the choice each shop had.

"I wonder what Mai-chan will wear tomorrow… I'm sure she would be cute using anything but, if she used bolder design…" Jun said as he had forgotten my existence in this place. He really had an illness called Ibara Syndrome.

I simply looked around and browsed through things with little interest. Maybe I shouldn't have come even if I needed to refuse fruit parfait.

'_But if I didn't accept, most likely I would study… I prefer fruit parfait over studying…_' I thought as I looked around for anything particularly interesting.

I stepped out from the clothing shop and decided to go to the bookstore next to it as I waited for Jun. When he talked about Mai-san, he could go on and on for hours so I just needed to sit idly in some place and read until he mailed me to ask about my whereabouts.

It had been awhile since the last time I visited the mall bookstore as I was always reading my father personal collection. It came without saying that most of them were medical book obviously. I looked at the row of novel section, looking for anything in particular that caught my attention. It is true that most of my time was spent on studying, but it didn't mean I had lost interest with normal books like novel.

'_It's been awhile since I last searched the Zestiria (_**Talking about Tales of Zestiria here**_) series… I wonder how many books I had missed…_' I thought as I browsed through the row of novel in front of me as I tried to find the book I was searching.

After looking for it for ten minutes or so, I found the last copy of the latest book of the series in between the other title. I reached my hands forward to take it when my hand met with another hand.

Instinctively I looked to my side and saw a person that I was familiar with that I was surprised. Let me give you the detail, she is a girl that had magenta colored eyes and golden wavy hair and I'm sure there weren't that many girl with that combination. I quickly withdrew my hands and said, "M-Milla…"

Yes, she is Milla. She looked surprised as well to see me here and aiming for the same book as her. An air of silence ensued between us as we said nothing to each other for a while. I mentally cursed since I didn't understand why I acted this way. She is Milla, a friend of mine for god's sake! But something felt different, no, something keep telling me that it wasn't that.

I tried to break the ice and took the novel. Then I looked at the book before I turned my attention to Milla before I said, "You can have it…"

Milla looked up and her eyes widen up in the process. I gave the book to her but she pushed it to me as she said, "N-no, I can't do that. You are the first one to take it Jude…"

"But you were about to take it first when I was about to take it, so it is yours Milla…" I said as I tried to convince Milla on taking the book. This was getting nowhere as we kept on pushing it back and forth as politely as we could manage. Milla impressed me for being pushy yet patient as well as keeping a calm face at that at the same time

After few back and forth pushing, Milla finally took the book with certain nervousness and she looked reluctant about it as well. She looked around for a while before she said, "How about we… share it? Seeing how it looked like you wanted to read it as well Jude."

"Huh?" I instantly said at the suggestion of the matter. It never occurred to me to share a remaining book in a store with a 'friend' that I just knew at the start of this summer break.

"I feel bad to have it all for myself so I guess this would be best for both of us. We could pass it to each other every week and when we both done with it, how about leaving it to a local library? Or maybe we could give it to our school collection as well. I'm sure the teacher wouldn't mind since we are both in library committee…" Milla said as she elaborated further on her suggestion.

I took some time to think about it. Well it wasn't particularly bad idea at all. The Zestiria was high on my list and by how Milla reacted it looked like the series was high on her list as well. Since we both wanted to read it then I guess why not?

"I guess it's a good idea. I'm a fast reader so I guess I would be done with it in no time," I replied as I looked to Milla that I only noticed to be slightly taller than me, maybe 2 cm or so. It was easily noticeable but somehow I only managed to notice it right now and somehow that made me felt weird inside. Wait, why I even care about our height difference?

Milla smiled gracefully as she placed the book close to her chest. She looked delighted by the result of what we had reached. I returned her smile with a smile on my own as I then noticed about how she was alone. Feeling curious I asked, "You are here alone today, Milla?"

Milla looked surprised but then she noticed about what I had asked her and then simply replied, "Leia and Mai dragged me to do some swimsuit hunt, but… they were arguing about something appropriate for me and won't listen to reason so I escaped here."

I could imagine how they would fuss over Milla's swimsuit since she was drop dead gorgeous. Milla had the body of a model and grace of a noble at the same time so I guess Leia would make a fuss over her clothes. Well, I didn't know that Mai-san would make a fuss over it as well though, that was quite a surprise. She looked like she was troubled but happy at the same time over the act of those two.

"How about you? I had stated my reasoning for being here. I guess it would be fair for you to do that as well," Milla asked as she successfully snapped me from my trance.

I was surprised, to say the least, but it wasn't much of a problem and I had no reason to hide it as well. I honestly replied, "I came here with Jun. He was choosing some swimming trunks when he started his monologue…"

"Monologue?" Milla innocently asked me before I finished my sentence as she looked at me with question marks above her head, if animation were reality. She was being slightly rude for cutting in the middle of my sentence, but she looked honestly curious so I couldn't point it out.

But still I contemplated on whether to tell Milla about Jun weird obsession over Mai-san or not since I knew that Jun should have some pride over his love life. But, Milla looked like she could keep a secret and I doubt she wanted to have anything to do over the weird love story anyways.

After I decided on my answer to that in my head I replied, "Jun had a _big _crush over Mai-san… and when he started talking about her, he wouldn't stop even if the world was ending around him. So, when he started his monologue, I simply took a side trip to a bookstore and by chance, met you here."

Milla giggled as she hid her smile with the novel we had agreed on sharing. She looked amused for some reason though I was completely _sure _it's not because of Jun's little secret. I wondered what had happened in her side since she is Mai-san's friend. As if she had read my mind, Milla said, "By the way you word it Jude… it sounded like what Mai would do when Jun is involved."

It took me by surprise when I noticed what she was talking about. Few moments later I instinctively said, "So we had weirdo for friends?"

Milla's giggle had ceased as she looked simply amused by the idea of Mai and Jun actually liking each other but never know about their partner feeling. She looked content on it however as she said, "They are weird but I guess it make us weird as well. But let's not get on this just yet. I guess Leia had noticed it as well and maybe she wanted to be their cupid. I didn't want to hinder her plan but, how about we made sure that she didn't mess up?"

"For tomorrow beach trip?"

"Yeah."

I contemplated on the idea for a while and then realized that it might be fun to work on something with Milla. She is a better girl company than Leia ever was after all. So I extended my hand to her as I said, "Count me in."

Milla simply smiled mischievously as she took my hand and we shook our hand on our agreement. It was then I heard my phone resounding 'Believe in Change' (Xillia OST) quite loudly that I quickly took it to silence it. I saw a message from Jun who had asked for help since he saw heaven passed on him.

'_Heaven?_' I internally questioned his choice of words as I wondered what he might be talking about, but for now I decided to just see it for myself.

I looked to Milla who was looking at her phone as well and she looked amused at the content of the mail she had given. She closed her phone and looked to me again as she said, "Leia texted me that they met Jun so she called me over for help since Mai had acted weird again."

Milla's words had given me the answer of my question from before. So I guess what Jun meant by 'Heaven' was Mai-san passing by. I sighed at the thought and then said, "Jun just texted me that… err, let's just say he exaggerated it. Well, since we needed to move on, let's pay for the book… oh yeah, who had the book first?"

Milla simply smiled in understanding as she asked, "May I?"

I smiled to her as well and replied, "Yes."

* * *

**Normal POV**

* * *

(The Next Day…)

"You two are _soooooo_ late!" Leia shouted to Mai and Jun who had come running as they weren't punctual on the time and had made the other who were there waiting for almost an hour.

"You were late for five minute as well Leia, so you had no right to rub it on them," Jude scolded Leia with a relaxed tone. Today he didn't wore his glasses since he thought it was not appropriate for a trip to beach, much to Milla disappointment although the latter didn't show it.

Talking about glasses, today Mai didn't wear any as well and shifted to contact lens. Milla wondered what the reason was and got a reply that she thought that it wasn't appropriate to wear glasses to beach, just like Jude.

"But you looked good with glasses Mai-chan!" Jun shouted at the response as he got weird eyes from most of the group except for Mai who was simply flustered.

But again, Milla shared her sentiment with the love-struck guy. She preferred Jude with glasses as well although even without it he still looked equally good-looking. But, glasses are justice so whenever they went she felt like it was such a waste to change it to contact lenses.

They all then boarded the bus that lead to the next town. Leia, Jun, and Mai were born and raised in this town so they knew the detail about it. Milla and Jude who had spent most (for Milla anyway, Jude only left for 3 years) of their life out of the town only went along with the local. Their acts were good enough to mask that they only came back for few months.

"It's beach!" Leia shouted in excitement at the scenery of endless blue in front of them.

"The blue sky, the white clouds, the over-whelming waves!** [1]**" Jun shouted in excitement as well as if he had never saw beach for millennia. Milla should agree with Jude that Jun sometimes said things in exaggerating way.

"A lot of people are here as well…" Milla commented as she looked how the beach was packed with people. It looked like they were not the only one who thought of going to beach. It's not that she was reluctant since she knew it was natural for a public beach to be packed with people in Summer. But still she wasn't really used on sharing beach with others so it came as natural.

"It's a public beach so of course it is packed with people! Well people aside, Milla, Mai, let's go get changed. You boys don't dare to peek on us okay!" Leia said as she grabbed Milla and Mai's hands and then dragged them to changing room only after giving the boy a warning.

"We won't do that!" Jude replied as he looked at Jun who had charmed look as he watched Milla, Leia, and Mai, walked away. However Jude knew that Jun's eyes were more in Mai rather than the other two. He was so much in love after all.

Jude sighed at the sight and simply dragged Jun who was actually taller than him (thanks to his basketball practice) by kicking him in the shin and then pulled his collar as he said, "Stop having that perverted look on your face, you pervert player."

"Mai-chan is justice!" Jun replied exasperatedly as he tried to wriggle free from Jude's tight grip. After all, in the matter of strength, Jude overwhelmed him since he entered Martial Arts club. And Jun certainly didn't want to be in Jude hate list. But, being dragged was never comfortable in people's dictionary.

"Yes, yes, I know you love her, let's just change…" Jude simply replied as he continued to drag Jun before he could do any of his monologues about Mai and ended up embarrassing him in the public.

* * *

Jude and Jun were waiting for the girl near the shaved ice shop when they saw someone familiar as the shopkeeper. He had quite long messy brown hair with matched eye color. He wore a _happi_,_ hachimaki_,and had towels wrapped around his neck. He looked surprised as well to see Jude and Jun around as he said, "Oh well, oh well, isn't it Mr. Honor Student and our Star Athlete? What are you doing around here?"

"That was my line, coach! Aren't you had injured your leg in one way or another at the last internship?! Why you weren't lying on the hospital bed?" Jun replied without even answering the question thrown to him.

"Alvin-sensei, I believed that my dad had told you to not do anything crazy yet. Geez, it's the first time I heard an infirmary teacher got scolded for being lax on his health problem… and for the question, we were invited by the girls," Jude replied calmly though his tone was thick with sarcasm.

Alvin, or Alvin Svent, is a basketball coach in Jun's team and an infirmary teacher at the same time. He had admitted to Jude's family hospital after he got into accident that injured his leg in the internship for some stupid stuff that even Jun was reluctant to say. Although it looked like Jude's father had informed the person himself to not overexert himself, it looked like it was just a whisper of wind to the said person.

"Don't sweat on the detail since this job is as light as feather. Anyway it's rare to see you two go on a date with… particularly anyone. Who was the lucky girl?" Alvin asked with light tone as if he was never being scolded.

Jude and Jun was about to scold their teacher for being irrational when a voice called up from behind them as it said, "Sorry for the wait!"

They all (Alvin as well) looked around to see Leia, Milla, and Mai standing idly with their swimsuit on. Alvin whistled as Jun had his jaw dropped on the ground and Jude simply stared without blinking. Well, it was a natural reaction for any healthy male seeing how the three girls had their images changed from their usual image.

"Does it… suit us?" Mai asked as she looked at the boys with nervous gaze. She wore red bikini that crisscrossed around her neck as it was supported by a moderately sized ribbon on behind. The lower part was a short skirt with frill at the base. She also wore red-strapped sandals.

"It suits you… very," Jun replied as he tried to pick up his jaw from the ground.

Jude turned his head to Leia who wore more sporty swimsuit though she shared some design with Mai swimsuit. The top were blue and white strip that was tied behind her neck and she wore blue-colored shorts. She tied up her hair into ponytail and wore blue tennis cape and blue colored sandals.

Then he turned his attention to Milla without bothering about Leia anymore. Milla is… she is drop dead gorgeous in Jude's eyes (though generally she is) and her swimming wear made her looked dignified as well and even enhanced the noble aura she has. It was generally white in color, her top was crisscrossed like Mai, but Milla's were strings instead of ribbon. Her bottom had red colored scarf with orange highlight and flower pattern which was tied around her waist, hiding a part of her perfectly shaped thigh. She also wore straw hat with fake hibiscus flower attached to it and white strapped sandals.

"It suits you well," Jude commented to Milla and Leia, though his gaze wander more to Milla since it was the first time he saw anyone other than Leia wearing swimsuit.

"Thank you…" Milla politely replied as she tried to hide her anxiety on wearing revealing clothes without much place to hide weapon around. She had heard that something happened in the relationship of other corporation and that's why she was advised to be careful.

"So, they are your date? You scoop once and got the best fish in the tank huh you lucky youngster," Alvin said as he hit the top of his students head. It was a general fact that Milla was the flower of the first year and even had her own fan club albeit the girl herself didn't notice it. Leia and Mai were generally popular as well albeit not as popular as Milla.

"Eh? Alvin-sensei, why you were here? Aren't you supposed to be in hospital or something?" Leia asked as she just noticed that Alvin was behind the boys and wore the clothes of a shopkeeper. After all, she was one of the athletes in the internship as well, so she knew what had happened to the infirmary teacher and basket club coach.

Alvin scratched his head lightly as Milla and Mai looked at the infirmary teacher since both rarely had any problem to make them go to infirmary unlike Leia who was frequent there. He then explained, "Well, I was discharged and since it is Summer Break. It was a waste to spend it at house you know, so I applied for this part-time job to give the feel of summer. After all, summer equals beach right?"

"I couldn't argue about the last part but… why Alvin-sensei knew Leia so well?" Mai asked with question marks over her head. She never thought that Leia was one who would frequent infirmary since she looked very healthy. And again, she never knew what happened to the teacher in the first place to actually scold him from being lax on his health problem.

"This ball of energy you called as Leia often end up with injury in my sacred room. Did she join a gang or something?" Alvin explained with a joking tone as he pointed his thumb to Leia who had turned red from either anger or embarrassment. He mentally felt glad for the change of topic.

"That's out of your problem, you good for nothing old man! I'm just scraped a little after practice, that's all…" Leia protested as she shouted to Alvin who simply shrugged it off with a laugh.

Milla simply giggled as she was amused at how the event unfolded in front of her. However she decided that it would be better to end the fiasco for now. As she decided that, she looked at Jude and Jun for some help when she said, "Well, since we are already in the beach, why don't we go into the water?"

Jun nodded briefly as if he had known what Milla wanted to say so he said, "Yeah, that's right. Let's leave this stupid couch waiting behind his pitiful shop as he watched us splashing water and enjoying our youth!"

"Whoa, that's harsh," Alvin commented.

Jude took a part in this as well as he looked at Leia to calm her rage as he said, "Yeah, right. I had zero interest on patient who was being careless about his own condition."

Leia who had gotten interested on it and Mai who noticed where Milla wanted to take the conversation to shouted, "Yeah! Let's forget about the existence of stupid teacher!"

They then ditched Alvin who grumbled at how he should have stayed quiet or wore a better disguise. But his grumble was cut short by people who started buying drinks. After all, beach equal business, right?

* * *

**[1]**: If you played Persona 3 (or all its port) you will understand from where I took the quote. *sigh* I want to go to beach…

Hello everyone since the last chapter I didn't put on any character information I decided to put it here! And today we have... dumdararara~ our two main character **Milla Maxwell **and **Jude Mathis**!I'm just putting the basic idea of their character as they would be developed more in this story that span for their entire high school year!

If you wanted to know why I made their character detail like that... well, for one I used a "**Primbon**" a Javanese (_Java_) guide for those kind of stuff. So there is a _good _reason why I made their horoscope, birth date, flower, color and the blood type like that. Coming soon is **Muzet **and** Gaius** detailed information. Anyway, have a fun time reading the bio~

Main Character Detailed Information:

1. **Milla Maxwell**: She is still Milla Maxwell from Xillia but modified. Milla knew that she didn't understand common sense and knew next to nothing outside her family corporation so she wanted to improvise it, as what her father told her. But she still understands the concept of emotion and that she was exceptionally normal and the most rational one compared to her siblings, though not the sanest. But no matter what, she is the scion of the Maxwell Corporation and she acted like one properly.

Milla used to be the smartest in school but acted like it was nothing big until she entered Rieze Maxia High where Jude beat her with close to none margin though still acted like it was _nothing_. Milla from this story was friendlier and open on expressing her friendliness to her friend but it is _different _case if business was involved. She smiled frequently and sometimes laughs but more often she would simply giggle.

Milla's age is 15 years old. Her blood type is A. She is born at 9 August so she is a Leo, though none of her friend knew it yet. Why is that? It was because they never asked. Milla joined Kendo club and Library Committee, one of two who actually worked. Her favorite flower is the same as Mai, Rose. Her favorite color consists of Blue, Red, and White. Milla had quite the fame in school albeit the person didn't notice. She was called "Miss Perfect Beauty" or "Rose of The Freshmen" by her fans and those who merely know her by her fame.

2. **Jude Mathis**: Jude is still Jude Mathis from Xillia but I was writing with the Xillia 2 version in mind. I couldn't help it, he was hot there and he could invite Milla properly. Jude was actually friendly but often misunderstood as distant because albeit he was the smartest at school, he thought of it as _nothing_. Yeah folks, being the best in school are _nothing_. He would actually help if anyone asked but apparently none ever, since he rarely initiated the conversation and often studies more than talk.

Jude is already a graduate student, which he stated in few chapters back and he was supposed to be _working _but instead he goes to school. He would keep her politeness in front of foreign people, but he would talk straight to the point for those close enough that might sometimes came as harsh (especially Jun because he is stupid and act like one). All in all, Jude here is colder to unknown and a little less trusting but if it was a friend he was still the same Jude from Xillia but with mean streak.

Jude's age is 15 years old. His blood type is A as well. He is born at 24 December and is a Capricorn. Yes, he is born at Christmas Eve so his birthday is equal Christmas. Jude joined Judo club and Library Committee, the other one beside Milla who actually worked as a member. He had no particular flower that was his favorite, but he likes Mistletoe. His favorite color is Black and Brown. He was used to be called "Mr. Genius from 1-D class" by his peers and "Mr. Honor Students" by Alvin though teacher normally referred him by that as well while dropping the "Mr." part.


End file.
